Cambridge Studies in the History of Psychology Inventing our Selves: Psychology, Power, and Personhood

Cambridge Studies in the History of Psychology Inventing our Selves: Psychology, Power, and Personhood Synopsis

Inventing Our Selves proposes a radical new approach to the analysis of our current regime of the self, and the values of autonomy, identity, individuality, liberty, and choice that animate it. It argues that psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and other 'psy' disciplines have played a key role in 'inventing our selves', changing the ways in which human beings understand and act upon themselves, and how they are acted upon by politicians, managers, doctors, therapists, and a multitude of other authorities. These mutations are intrinsically linked to recent changes in ways of understanding and exercising political power, which have stressed the values of autonomy, personal responsibility, and choice. This critical history diagnoses and destabilises our contemporary 'condition' of the self, to help us think differently about the kind of persons we are, or might become.

Cambridge Studies in the History of Psychology Inventing our Selves: Psychology, Power, and Personhood Press Reviews

'The scope and isnights of what Rose has to say about what it is to become, and be, a human alone suffice to ensure the very great importance of this volume.' Paul Heelas, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute ...Nikolas Rose's work continues to be one of the most exciting efforts to bring Foucalt's work to bear on sociological research and to produce an account of power in advanced liberal societies. Jonathan Simon, Contemporary Sociology nventing Our Selves is one of the most valuable studies of the techniques of gevernment and self-government available in the English language. Angel J. Gordo-Lopez, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences